OT rant - bad day

[Ysabel Kid]

What a day. I spent an extended lunch hour trying to run a few errands, making 14 stops at various places - and only found one thing I had actually gone out for. Stopped at three gun shops - no .40-caliber FMJ bullets for reloading at any of them, and no "restoration specials" to be had. Couldn't find an inexpensive desktop calendar pad to save my life after 3 stops - and I refuse to pay $15 for one (I know - I'm cheap). Got home and worked furiously trying to catch up, then around 5:00pm I get the parade of the kids and wife all complaining that the cable was out.

Turns out that our local cable company just switched to an HD signal this afternoon. I thought I was safe because all of the TV's and VCR's were "cable-ready". Oh, no - they could get the lower channels, but not the other channels in the basic cable line up (did I mention how cheap I am?). For my wife this meant no HGTV; no Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon for the kids; no Discovery, History or Sci-Fi channel for me. Now I will need to get a converter box - several of them - and in reality, we don't watch that much TV!

Just not my day. I shouldn't complain - I have my health and job, the family is healthy, and I'm taking two weeks of vacation at one time - for the first time ever (20 years) - starting this weekend. Still, I hate wasting time and having to address things (like the cable situation) I shouldn't have to fanny burp with at all!!!

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Brutal.

[Jaguarundi]

Sucks!

[brucew44guns]

Jay-----I was just wondering. With the Holidays and all at your doorstep, have you wondered about the condition of the shingles on your roof? A big rain storm might be coming. Then there's the drains leading from your house to the sewer system, are all those without tree roots and blockages? Not trying to get more going on in your head right now, not until that TV is running right again!! A guy sure can see where stuff runs down hill fast.

[Noah Zark]

Kid:

Take a few deep breaths, count to 100 in a couple languages, and remind yourself:

"Shed not one tear for that which cannot, nor those who will not cry over you."

Noah

[RIHMFIRE]

Now...now...
thing will get better at 5:00 on friday
Enjoy your vacation and Merry Christmas...

This will be my first 2 week vacation in more than 3 years
gonna spend most of it hunting and shooting
and eating!

[rjohns94]

Jay, I hope your day today is much better. Enjoy your vacation and may your life be filled with peace and happiness. blessings

[86er]

Suddenlink has us with no cable or internet or phone for 3 days. Still no phone. I just shrug it off and think about how I grew up without those things.

[alnitak]

Hmmm ... I thought if you got your service through a cable company, no converter box was needed. Sounds like I was misinformed.

**Update**

My understanding was correct. From this site ... http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008 ... taltv.html --

"TV viewers who pay for cable or satellite service need not worry. The digital switchover only applies to over-the-air broadcasts, so consumers who get their television directly from services such as Comcast or DirecTV will not be affected at all, and service will continue uninterrupted and unchanged as the DTV deadline comes and goes."

But the article goes on to say, "There is, however, a subtler, unrelated analog-to-digital switchover taking place among cable companies, one that could affect subscribers. It has usually been possible to view a small number of basic cable channels by plugging the coaxial cable directly into a television set, bypassing a cable box entirely.

This was a quick and easy way to bring cable TV to many rooms in a home without renting multiple cable boxes. Unfortunately, this may not be possible in the near future. Cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner are slowly phasing out their analog cable services in favor of digital. By switching over, they free up more space on their cable networks that can be allocated to new high-definition channels and interactive services like "On Demand." The downside is that when all cable channels are converted to digital, renting a cable box will be required to see any channels at all."

So, from the above Jay, I guess that means that you just plug you cable directly into the TV rather than use a box? Better hurry up and take advantage of the Government coupon, then!

[Old Ironsights]

Could be worse.

You could have spent 8 hours up a tree "On Stand" in cool, but not awful (20 to 28deg) temps with the only deer you saw being easily killable with ANY levergun, but behind the tree and just outside of Bow Range...

Then climb down and track those same deer for an hour only to spook them up in the "no shoot" zone... just outside of Bow Range, but still 1000% SAFELY killable with ANY levergun...

All I want to do is kill some townie deer and eat them... why won't they let me?

[.45colt]

Brutal.............................................................................+1.

[J Miller]

Y.K.,

Sorry to hear about your day. It will get better .... eventually.


Those coupons for the digital converter boxes were a fraud here in IL. We the two allotted to our address and didn't do anything about right off. We didn't know how much these stupid boxes would cost so we kept stalling while we paid bills. Then when we did find out how much the stupid things cost, nobody had any until the day AFTER the coupons expired.

So now we can't get another coupon, and my wife and I are so upset at the stores and the lack of anything of value on the TV we're probably not going to get one. Screw 'em. We'll just use the TV, VHS and DVD players as our own movie theater.
So there.

Joe

[alnitak]

Those coupons for the digital converter boxes were a fraud here in IL.

Gee...that's a surprise!

nobody had any until the day AFTER the coupons expired.

Apparently, the coupons will be given out until March (or until the Government program runs out of money), however, they are only good for 90 days, so you can't wait around for too long before you buy. Guess I will have to check store supplies before I get a coupon.

[Old Ironsights]

... Screw 'em. We'll just use the TV, VHS and DVD players as our own movie theater...So there.

Joe

That's what we have done since... well, since we were married in '93 and me a long time before that.

I/we haven't had "paid for" TV except for the one Apt. in Anchorage that "included" basic cable.

AFAIK the 13" TV in the basement has a bad picture tube...

I'm just waiting for the weeping/gnashing of teeth/riots/burglaries that will occur after Feb 17 when the Fed shuts off "reality TV" & Oprah...

(FWIW, IMO this is nothing but another Fed anti 1st Am. Power Grab... Its WAAAY easier to "shut off" (scramble) Digital TV than Analog...

[kirkwood]

Let's see...
You could have gotten into a bad traffic accident and become paralyzed.
You could have returned home and found it burned to the ground.
You could have received a phone call that one of your children had been abducted.
You could have been filed with divorce papers by your wife.
You could have had a massive heart attack or stroke and be laying in a hospital bed on a ventilator.
You could have received a phone call that someone you love had died.
All these things happened somewhere today. Be grateful none of them happened to you!
Now forget those trivial little annoyances and thank the Lord that you live in the greatest country in the world and have a comfortable home and can hug your family tonight.

[deerwhacker444]

Let's see...
You could have gotten into a bad traffic accident and become paralyzed.
You could have returned home and found it burned to the ground.
You could have received a phone call that one of your children had been abducted.
You could have been filed with divorce papers by your wife.
You could have had a massive heart attack or stroke and be laying in a hospital bed on a ventilator.
You could have received a phone call that someone you love had died.
All these things happened somewhere today. Be grateful none of them happened to you!
Now forget those trivial little annoyances and thank the Lord that you live in the greatest country in the world and have a comfortable home and can hug your family tonight.

[BenT]

It's nice to see your "Curmugion training " is coming along nicely . In another 5 years you should have it down pat. Just in time for when your kids start dating.

As far as the cable goes, can you say Dish Network.

[stretch]

That's not SO bad.... last week was new tires for the truck, the flu, and a root canal.

Some folks up here in Maine have been without electricity for a week as the result of an ice storm.

I look at it this way - I could be in a snowy ditch in the mountains of Afghanistan being
mortared. So, it's not as bad as it could be. Still - quite irritatin'!

[AJMD429]

I empathize.

I'd wanted a Marlin XLR in .444 for Christmas so bad, I sold a couple other guns to fund it, but still needed to count on some luck to get it without going into hock (wife doesn't like that since she's the bill payer and dollar juggler).

Had to order it, so I did (at least found it at a really good price!), and it came in a couple days ago.

So today I have the afternoon off and go to pick it up. Today is also payday so my check will be at the office tomorrow, and I thought my 60-hour-plus weeks of slaving this past month would get me about $5,000 before taxes. Use the cookie-jar money today, cash the paycheck tomorrow, slipping enough out to refill the cookie jar. Just had to spend $200 to get truck fixed where mice ate wiring and defrost (vital in winter) was dead, but so far, ok.

I get home after said transaction, and there's two messages: One from office that the paycheck will begin with a "2" instead of a "5" - which means I can't slip any back into the cookie jar (and I'm that much closer to telling patients I don't accept ANY "insurance" plans but only take direct payment ). The other message that the wife and 11 year old are stranded 35 miles away due to her car having trouble...

I really think that the gods watch you and when you do something they think is too frivilous, they 'educate' you about finances or whatever.

After the dust settled, a friend helps rescue her car, her co-workers rescue her, and I realize that I had a $575 paycheck from a part-time job I'd not yet cashed, so like Jay said, you realize family, health, and friends are really where it is at, but sometimes you do have one of THOSE days...!

I can't gripe too much, because in the past few weeks I've had friends lose jobs, and diagnosed cancers in several patients - now just how is someone supposed to "have a happy Holiday" when you've just told her she has breast cancer? While I guilt trip over my shiny new gun (and it really IS nice ) I always realize that some people's good days are worse than the baddest day I've ever had. Love your family and friends, stay true to your spiritual guide, and enjoy the fun little frivolities when you can (just get that money back in the cookie jar before your wife catches you! ).

[JohndeFresno]

It's them dirty commies that cause ALL them problems! Drat them all!

[JReed]

Sorry to hear of your troubles man but look on the bright side your going on vacation.

[Ysabel Kid]

Jay-----I was just wondering. With the Holidays and all at your doorstep, have you wondered about the condition of the shingles on your roof? A big rain storm might be coming. Then there's the drains leading from your house to the sewer system, are all those without tree roots and blockages? Not trying to get more going on in your head right now, not until that TV is running right again!! A guy sure can see where stuff runs down hill fast.

Bruce - what are you trying to do, give me a heart attack? Actually, the ceiling fan/light in the family room stopped working today. I installed the sucker, and it wasn't fun. It is a two-story room - 19 feet from floor to ceiling. I was on a 12 foot step-ladder, standing on the very top, and stretching to do the original installation - thinking the whole time I'm getting too old for this. The darn thing may stay broken for a while!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

Suddenlink has us with no cable or internet or phone for 3 days. Still no phone. I just shrug it off and think about how I grew up without those things.

I was actually thinking the same thing. This reminds me of when cable first came out. No such thing as "cable-ready TV's", so any TV had to have a converter box on it. Looks like we're going backwards!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

Hmmm ... I thought if you got your service through a cable company, no converter box was needed. Sounds like I was misinformed.

**Update**

My understanding was correct. From this site ... http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008 ... taltv.html --

"TV viewers who pay for cable or satellite service need not worry. The digital switchover only applies to over-the-air broadcasts, so consumers who get their television directly from services such as Comcast or DirecTV will not be affected at all, and service will continue uninterrupted and unchanged as the DTV deadline comes and goes."

But the article goes on to say, "There is, however, a subtler, unrelated analog-to-digital switchover taking place among cable companies, one that could affect subscribers. It has usually been possible to view a small number of basic cable channels by plugging the coaxial cable directly into a television set, bypassing a cable box entirely.

This was a quick and easy way to bring cable TV to many rooms in a home without renting multiple cable boxes. Unfortunately, this may not be possible in the near future. Cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner are slowly phasing out their analog cable services in favor of digital. By switching over, they free up more space on their cable networks that can be allocated to new high-definition channels and interactive services like "On Demand." The downside is that when all cable channels are converted to digital, renting a cable box will be required to see any channels at all."

So, from the above Jay, I guess that means that you just plug you cable directly into the TV rather than use a box? Better hurry up and take advantage of the Government coupon, then!

Bingo! The cable company actually called us a couple weeks ago to let us know about the switch, that it was not the same as the upcoming switch in February, and asked if we needed a converter box. Smarty-pants me said "no" - based on what I had read. Our TV's are old, but are all cable-ready so I figured we were safe. I do tape a bunch of stuff from the History Channel, Discovery, etc. - and then watch it while walking on the treadmill. Whammo - none of the basic channels come in other than the broadcast ones!

I hot-tailed it to the cable company office first thing this morning, figuring there would be a mad rush. First box is free; others were only $1.50/month to rent (the website said $4.95/month, so I was pleased). Got them home and started installing them. Getting extra channels now - including the "Outdoor" channel and "Sportsman's Channel" - which both feature shooting-related shows, so I'm thinking to myself, "hey this isn't bad".

Wrong. The old VCR's will only record what is actually displayed on the TV through the converter-box tuner, since the tuner in the VCR's themselves won't work. So in order to record something it has to be playing on the TV. I think. Haven't tried the recording yet.

I know - I know - you are all astounded at just how cheap I am, and wondering why I just don't get TiVo or a DVR. Eventually. I use things until they don't work and I can no longer fix them, then only buy what I can afford. It has kept the family debt-free (other than the house) for most of my adult life.

Anyway, I hope this rant gives some of you fellows a "head's up" on what may be coming your way!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

It's nice to see your "Curmugion training " is coming along nicely . In another 5 years you should have it down pat. Just in time for when your kids start dating.

As far as the cable goes, can you say Dish Network.

Hopefully not 5 years! My wife says I was born a "mean old man". I thank her for the compliment and tell her it takes effort and practice, but I'm willing to work at it each day!